The word corporate comes from the word corporal, which means a body, more precisely, a person in the physical. Mimicking the human individual, capital established an analogues entity with legal rights/personality, around the end of the middle ages. The modern corporation is an artificial setup endowed with full legal rights and responsibilities, just like a natural person. Corporations are given this legal status to help them function like humans in most societal interactions. Recently the US Supreme Court allowed corporations even to cast their votes, albeit indirectly. What corporations lack in actual life is more than compensated by their lifeless longevity. A corporation, theoretically, can exist indefinitely. By and large, it is only corporate failure (like bankruptcy, etc.) that kills a corporation. For example, the longest business entity in the world was ‘Kongo Gumi’, a Japanese temple construction business founded in 584 AD. It only folded in 2009, after operating for 1442 years!
The corporation in its more modern stature came into being around 1600 AD. The British East India Company was the first entity to fully utilize the corporal set up. It is this company that triggered the Boston Tea Party (the American Revolution) as well as the ‘Opium War’ in China. If truth be told, the British East India company was a semi-government entity with sovereign rights/mandates, including monopolies in trades across the oceans. To be sure, the widespread use of the corporation format facilitated commerce and investment all over the world, as it allowed complex organizations to be at once efficient and autonomous! Certainly, it was a better mode of accumulation compared to those of previous eras. In ancient times slavery (long before the phenomenon was falsely associated with color/race/ethnic lines) was the only means of lucrative accumulation and it lasted quite a long time. We can even cite a recent example that is more familiar to many. It was the master/slave production relation that gave rise to the immense wealth of the new world/Americas. Many of the foundations in the USA for example, had directly benefitted from slavery (Harvard, Yale, etc.). The Bank of Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt in 2008, was quite a big player in the financing of the slave trade from Africa!
During the European Middle Ages, a more enlightened system of accumulation was gradually established, namely, ‘feudalism’. This system replaced slaves by serfs and allowed some space for the human operators to pursue their lives as relatively autonomous entities. The serfs were not mere properties of the ruling classes. The corporation system or modern capitalism allowed the employment of human labor without the above horrendous shackles. Of course, there had always been ways of imposing restraints on ‘free labor’. Nonetheless, it proved better than the previous modes of productions. It even allowed the participation of labor in some kind of profit sharing scheme. To be sure, the proletariat-corporation nexus have not always been an amicable arrangement. Social existence in the 20th century has been a chaotic alignment and realignment between the above two main protagonists of the prevailing world order (Socialism vs. Capitalism). In the 20th century, the general mobility of capital, without much option for free labor movement, started to complicate matters in the globalized world economy, resulting in what is now called polarized and polarizing globalization. For the most part, polarization is the result of the following. In the current globalization, which is worshipped by capital and its human minions, labor is cut off from participating in the complete cycle of production processes. That is; capital, thanks to its corporal set up, became loose footed, as it can magically be in many places at the same time, while labor, which is naturally circumscribed to a given nation-state, remained stuck, rather indefinitely! Unlike the slave-master, serfs-feudal tie up, the proletariat-corporate nexus greatly helped capital skip the confinement of geography. It was set free to roam around the world, looking for better opportunities and always ready/able to abandon any domicile for better profit pasture elsewhere. It is this lopsided arrangement that is now facing the global sheeple’s wrath!
What is inherently disturbing with the current mode of accumulation that leverages the corporation-labor set up is; unlike the old systems, the corporation supported by its techno-sphere is without an iota of conscience, while its manipulative capacity has reached the stratosphere, so to speak. On the other hand, labor remains a biological organism, conscience of nature, social harmony, etc.! The big corporations, like Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Oil, etc., are mainly interested in profit (capital accumulation) and are more than willing to undermine nature, including human lives! Just look at the Covid-19 theatrics being played out by phony/paid science, compliment of the corporation and its subservient politicos! Look how the corporate led-world ostracizes sane countries like Sweden, just because they are not willing to buy into this vicious scam of the deep state! See the article on page 51 and the web site www.swprs.org. At the same time, we believe it is instructive to examine nuanced developments of late capitalism outside corporate led societies. In fact and unlike the assumption of many, the People’s Republic of China is not a capitalist country, where ultimate decisions are made in the boardrooms. What obtains in China is a system where the benefits/methodologies, etc., of the capitalist system are utilized to create a human centered society that will ultimately be governed by human values, ambitions, etc., as well as ecological sustainability (in as much as possible)! We admit, this might not be clear or straightforward to many a sheeple, or might not even be possible going forward, given the adversity this new contraption faces from the traditional core of the system (OECD). Nonetheless, the fact still remains that the Communist Party of China, is the ultimate arbiter of economic policies/power, which can override all other institutions, including the corporations and their myriad tentacles.
This editorial was first published in 2020
END OF THE CORPORATE ERA?
Emirates and Africa
Manoj Nair currently heads up Emirates’ operations in Ethiopia and is responsible for the growth of the airline’s business and operations in the region. Prior to heading to Ethiopia, Manoj led Emirates’ operations in West Africa, where he oversaw overall management, control and administration of the airline’s assets and fiscal and marketing policies. Since joining Emirates in December 2009, Manoj has successfully built and maintained country- wide relationships with political representatives, government officials, regulatory authorities and stakeholders across the region. Manoj brings a wealth of experience in strategic and operational management within a competitive international aviation business environment. Before joining Emirates, Manoj held several positions in South African Airways (SAA), including regional manager of Middle East and North, West, East and Central Africa regions and Manager Kenya, Middle East and Gulf. Manoj Nair caught up with Capital to talk about his airlines strategy in Africa and Ethiopia. Excerpts;
Capital: The COVID pandemic has profoundly impacted the aviation industry, changing passenger needs and expectations globally. How are you rebuilding your global network connectivity?
Manoj Nair: This year saw more international borders reopen and travel restrictions ease, and we’re seeing travelers resume their pre-pandemic travel routines, creating a surge of demand for travel. We continue to see robust traffic across our network, in spite of external challenges, and healthy seat load factors well above industry average in every cabin class.
At Emirates, our focus remains on recovery – through rebuilding our network and capacity to pre-pandemic levels; helping the industry recover through close cooperation and meaningful partnerships and investing for the future to position ourselves on an even stronger footing.
Emirates is currently operating at more than 80% of its pre-pandemic network capacity, and we’ve also been adding flight frequency to meet customer demand and improve network connectivity through our Dubai hub. As travel restrictions ease or are being completely removed, we are expanding our network to serve demand. In Jan 2022, we were operating about 2,100 weekly departures network-wide, and by the end of December 2022 we’re expecting to expand our flying schedule to about 2,900 weekly departures.
Today, we fly to over 130 passenger destinations (including DXB). This represents 94% of our pre-COVID route network. We launched a new daily service to Tel Aviv in June, and restarted flights to London Stansted in August 2022, and reconnected Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires in November.
Capital: What are your plans for post-pandemic recovery and expected return to pre-pandemic levels of operations in Ethiopia and Africa?
Manoj Nair: Emirates has rapidly rebuilt its network in tandem with the easing flight and travel restrictions in Ethiopia and across Africa. Addis Ababa is one of our most important destinations in East Africa, evidenced by the fact that we operate daily flights for passengers to Ethiopia (seven flights a week), returning fully to our pre-pandemic schedule. The route is served through our wide-bodied Boeing 777 and offers considerable cargo capacity to our customers on every one of our flights.
Rebuilding our operations – we announced additional services to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The ramp up of flights to these destinations are part of our ongoing commitment to support South Africa’s economic and tourism recovery through enhanced connectivity across all of our gateways.
The reintroduction of the flights between Dubai and the Emirates’ three gateways in South Africa will enhance our schedule to 42 weekly services vs. the 49 flights we had weekly pre-pandemic. We are hopeful by May 2023 we will be able to bring back all 49 flights subject to market demand and our operational capability.
Capital: The world is in turmoil, has the uncertain global economic environment affected Emirates’ strategy at all?
Manoj Nair: Despite the challenging economic environment, we continue to see robust demand across our network and we anticipate this momentum to continue into 2023. Our investments in forward planning, agile business response, and the efforts of our talented and committed workforce have proven successful for the airline and Group.
We were ready and amongst the first movers to serve the strong customer demand thanks to our robust business plans, the support of our industry partners, and our ongoing investments in people, technology, and products and services. We had a head start on recruitment and had our aircraft and operations lined up, ready to serve this demand. We were ready, Dubai was ready.
Emirates announced record half year profit of US $1.2 billion, reflecting the strong turnaround and recovery. It continues to focus on restoring its global passenger network and connections through its Dubai hub, restarting services and adding flights to meet customer demand across markets. Emirates’ network is global, and our business model enables us to adjust quickly to make sure we are in the right markets with the right product mix and offer. In addition, we have the advantage of being based in Dubai.
Remaining committed to its Fly Better Strategy, we are currently undertaking the largest-known airline retrofit programme to refresh and refit 120 aircraft, have rolled out a new hospitality strategy in June 2022, and have enhanced menus across all cabin classes.
However, the horizon is not without headwinds. There are a lot of forecasts around inflation, high energy prices, and the strong US dollar, driven in part by the war in Europe and supply-side challenges. These factors do impact the cost of business and could potentially dampen consumer confidence and travel spend. Like everyone else, Emirates is keeping a close eye on costs and working closely with our suppliers. We’re also ensuring that we continue to attract and retain customers, by offering value for money and great travel experiences.
Capital: What challenges do you face in your planned expansion?
Manoj Nair: As stated above, external headwinds such as inflationary costs, other macro-challenges such as the strong US dollar, and the fiscal policies of major markets pose challenges in planned expansion. We’re also working hard to reintroduce capacity to meet demand across our network. Demand continues to overstrip supply, and that’s a challenge we continue to work through.
Capital: As 80% of African skies are covered by non-African operators, how do you see the competition between airlines serving Africa?
Manoj Nair: There exists sufficient untapped growth potential in the African continent. As per estimates from IATA, the continent will see an additional 274 million air passengers by 2036 to reach a total market of 400 million passengers. The potential growth of the African air transport is further showcased by the fact that Africa is home to 16% of the world’s population and yet only has a share of 2.2% of global air passenger traffic. In the long term the sector will likely expand quickly on the back of economic growth, tourism and trade.
Africa is more than just one of many regions where Emirates operates, it’s a strategic focus and a very important anchor of our future network. We have successfully grown our operations in the past decades, and we’re committed to further growth and creating more connectivity for travellers on this continent.
Non-African carriers, such as Emirates, continue to be the main driver of connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world.
We’ve been operating to Africa for over 35 years (Cairo first destination). We have a long history on the continent and many deep relationships with stakeholders across the travel and tourism industry, having progressively grown our services in line with real, tangible demand.
Prior to the pandemic, we enjoyed double digit growth across Africa, operating to 21 passenger destinations in 18 countries.
While we may have briefly suspended operations, we have been able to build back our African network to close to pre-pandemic levels. We are also ramping up frequencies to provide more choice and connectivity for customers to and through our home and hub of Dubai.
Since the resumption of travel, we have continued to increase flight frequencies as demand picks up – examples include Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Accra, Abidjan, Casablanca, Cairo, and we will continue to put more capacity in support of trade and tourism to the region.
We’ve also forged strategic partnerships with other African carriers based on mutual commercial benefits, leveraging each carrier’s network strength within Africa regions and providing real value to our customers through the connectivity provided.
Examples include long-standing partners South African Airways, Air Link, FlySafair, Royal Air Maroc and Cemair, as well as a number of interline partners across Africa.
With our codeshare and interline network we provide connectivity to 79 cities, offering customers more flights, greater access to regional destinations, and a better experience when traveling.
These strategic partnerships and strong collaborations also support the tourism recovery amongst many smaller leisure destinations, served by smaller regional airlines, that have partnerships with carriers like Emirates that enable stronger passenger volumes through major African gateways.
All of these efforts have been pivotal in supporting increased airlift and connectivity for travellers in and out of Africa, as well as support for African tourism and trade.
Capital: What is the state of current operations and how is demand shaping up the market?
Manoj Nair: Emirates is fully focused and committed to its network, and we have been working hard to rebuild it to pre-pandemic levels over the past several months as most airports and cities have reopened.
We are working towards getting back to pre-COVID capacity and continue to expand operations. Our operations recovery has accelerated, we expect customer demand across our business divisions to remain strong in H2 2022-23 and have been adding flight frequency to meet customer demand and improve network connectivity through our Dubai hub. We’re expecting to expand our flying schedule to about 2,900 weekly departures. Currently, all of 145 of our Boeing 777s are in active service, including 11 freighters. We expect this utilization to continue through the year. More than 80 of our A380s are in active service and our aim is to bring all our A380s back into the sky by Summer 2023. Of the 123 A380s delivered to Emirates, we’ve retired 5 so far, with 2 more to leave our fleet by end of December 2022.
We’ve also launched new routes, hired additional cabin crew, forged codeshare partnerships and invested more than $2bn to retrofit aircraft. Emirates is undertaking the largest-known airline retrofit programme to refresh and refit 120 aircraft with the latest Emirates interiors and Premium Economy cabins.
Emirates is also now in a healthy financial position with group revenue of AED 56.3 billion (US$ 15.3 billion) for the first six months of 2022-23, up 128% from AED 24.7 billion (US$ 6.7 billion) last year. This was driven by the strong demand for air transport across the world with the further easing and removal of pandemic-related travel restrictions.
As for demand, Dubai remains a highly popular destination for leisure and business, with its world-class infrastructure and visa policies for international visitors, and ever-growing list of attractions and activities for every visitor segment. In the first half of 2022, Dubai attracted over 7 million international visitors (up 183%), according to Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism.
We are looking forward to what the future may hold.
Capital: How do you see travel trends in Ethiopia?
Manoj Nair: We have largely seen pre-pandemic patterns for travelers in and out of Ethiopia resume. The reopening of borders and a wave of travel restrictions easing in countries across our network have helped accelerate what was already there- tremendous pent-up demand for air travel. Traffic across all consumer segments, including leisure, VFR and business and corporate travel continues to grow.
Capital: What are the market potentials of African Countries including Ethiopia?
Manoj Nair: For Emirates, Africa continues to be a strategic focus and accounted for about 8% of the revenue in 2021-2022. Since the reopening of African routes in February 2022, we have seen a strong rebound in demand. Tourists have been returning to destinations such as Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and South Africa. We recently increased the frequency of our services to Algiers with the addition of a fifth weekly flight starting October 7. In Kenya, we went double-daily increasing our services and restoring our pre-pandemic frequencies. Ethiopia is a strategic market for Emirates in East Africa, and we’ve reinstated our operations to pre-pandemic levels due to healthy demand in and out of Addis Ababa. The trade links between Ethiopia and Dubai remain strong and we expect the demand momentum to continue.
Capital: Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is now a must for low-carbon travel. How are you planning to implement it?
Manoj Nair: Emirates supports initiatives that contribute to the deployment of sustainable aviation fuels. Our first flight powered by SAF was in 2017, operating from Chicago O’Hare. Emirates is on the Steering Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow initiative, which seeks to promote SAF deployment worldwide. We have also contributed to the UAE government’s work on a SAF roadmap and the WEF-supported Power-to-Liquids Roadmap for the UAE. We are working with GE and Boeing on a test flight program to fly an Emirates 777-300ER using 100% SAF in one of the engines.
Capital: Do you have any plans to serve Addis Ababa twice daily?
Manoj Nair: We constantly monitor the performance of our existing routes and evaluate the addition of frequencies and other services. This is contingent upon demand, market dynamics, and available aircraft, along with a number of other factors. We remain committed to Ethiopia and will continue to look at ways to meet customer demand as long as operating and commercial conditions allow.
Gold purchase price revision underway as precious metal supply plummets
The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and the Ministry of Mines (MoM) are in works to revise the premium price for artisanal gold purchase, which would see the current 35 percent premium double upon implementation.
Regional officials confirmed that Chinese citizens are involved in the artisanal mining in Benishangul Gumuz region, which was once a major source of hard currency from traditionally mined gold; which unfortunately is on a steep decline in the current budget year.
In a bid to combat the issue the regional administration has expressed its commitment to tackle the involvement of foreigners and the gold contraband.
In his latest interview with Capital, Takele Uma, Minister of Mines, said that the two government bodies have revised the new adjustment which will be ratified in the near future for application.
“We have revised the rate and generally agreed on the new premium price but the issue has a connection with the macroeconomic condition of the country. Due to that, the macroeconomic committee will conduct necessary evaluations to make it effective as soon as possible,” he said.
As part of motivating the gold suppliers, the two bodies proposed to make the premium to be more than 85 percent higher against the international market price, which is now 35 percent.
Contraband and the involvement of foreign citizens has become a critical challenge for the precious metal market that is direly needed at the central bank in the current budget year.
The Minister said that adjusting the premium is enough in addition to responsible government bodies properly regulating the problem on the ground.
To tackle the challenge a delegation led by Takele has extensively looked into the matter with the Benishangul Gumuz region leaders, as the region has now become a notorious gold contraband stronghold.
At the discussion, Kamil Hamed, Head of Mining Recourse Development Bureau of Benishangul Gumuz region, confirmed that there are Chinese that are working with local artisanal.
The Bureau Head, who was recently appointed to the position, said that the artisanal claim that they hire the foreigners to support their mining operation.
However, he confirmed that there is confusion with regards to the involvement of foreigners at the traditional mining areas, “they are even using very hazardous chemicals, which we are not familiar with, to mine the gold.”
Experts who closely follow the case said that the Chinese citizens who illegally invaded the area are involved on the contraband businesses with routes up to Somaliland in order to smuggle the precious metal out of the country.
Recently, the Ministry of Mines disclosed that in collaboration with security apparatus it has taken measures on foreigners that were involved on the illegal gold trade.
During the latest meeting chaired by Ashadli Hassan, President of Benishangul Gumuz region, comprising also of federal government and regional officials, discussions on how the illegal gold trade in the region should be alleviated was looked into in addition to how best artisans can supply the gold to the central bank as per the country law.
Gold supply to NBE has suddenly dropped in the current budget year which affects the hard currency earnings from the sector. In the past two years, gold was one of the top three commodities as sources of export earnings for the country.
At the discussion, Million Mathewos, State Minister of Mines, underlined that if the current illegal behavior continues it would damage the country’s economy, “we have to halt the contraband in a coordinated manner and as soon as possible.”
“Foreigners that are present at the mining areas are involved on the illegal chain, so without further discussion we have to get in to action and take them out from the mining area and the illegal chain as well,” Million further stressed.
At the meeting it has been stated that artisanal gold coming from Gambella and South West Ethiopia regions to NBE is returning back on its former course, while the supply from Benishangul Gumuz has plummeted to almost nil.
The State Minister said that besides taking measures on illegally presented foreigners, the regional administration has also move forward to control the artisanal associations.
“The regional administration should revoke the license of the associations which do not supply their product to the central bank,” he added.
“As we give a production obligation for large scale miners, artisanal miners need to have commitment to supply a given amount of gold for the central government in a given period,” Takele said adding that some of the errors in the mining sector will be answered by the newly proposed proclamation that has already been sent to the Councils of Ministers.
He remained that in Benishangul Gumuz region there are 476 artisanal associations licensed by the region. Meanwhile the regional administration does not give responsibility to the artisanal to come up with a given amount of the product.
“It must be corrected,” he underlined.
Ashadli said that high premium price that is given for artisanal gold miners against the international rate is sufficient to encourage the supply of the product to the central bank but more needs to be done. He added that the current gold suppliers, who buy the product from miners but in the end do not sale to the NBE, must be excluded from business since they are the major ones responsible for the smuggling.
“We have to form new associations that involve artisanal miners on the supply of the precious metal for the central bank,” he underscored.
At the meeting it was also stated that the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) branch at the area, which represents NBE was also involved in the illegal activity.
Kamil said that the CBE branch officers were part of the sabotage.
“They systematically discourage suppliers who want to follow the legal procedure and sale their product for the government,” he said.
“The branch tells suppliers that it does not have sufficient cash to pay for the gold, due to that a legal supplier is forced to go to contrabandists. However the same branch provides huge sum for contrabandists for their illegal trading,” he explained.
According to regional officials, Sudanese nationals that cross the border are also working with local artisanal.
“The Sudanese are those who introduced small scale machines like crashers to mine the product, taking their share or payment in gold, which is one of the reasons for the reduction of gold supply,” he further elaborated.
The regional President said that a task force led by him has been formed to tackle the illegal trade. He expressed his regional administration’s commitment to solving the problem. He proposed that as part of tackling the contraband, the central bank shall facilitate a condition to buy the product at the site from artisanal miners directly rather than taking the precious product from suppliers.
“Expanding trading branches at mining sites or the surrounding shall help the traditional miners to sale their gold immediately and get their payment; due to that nearby branches would be part of the solution,” he said.
City gain authority to tax property
Aimed to the lower burden of federal government to finance infrastructure buildings and increase income of cities, government has decided to give the Authority of property tax to city administrations under the authorization of regional states and the two city administrations.
In the 1st joint special meeting of the 2nd year of the 6th House of Peoples’ Representatives and the House of Federation, held on January 11, 2023 it was stated that infrastructure development and social services in cities is not developing in line with the increasing number of the population.
As to the proposed resolution, the authority of property tax is given to the existing regional states and the two city administrations, while Regional States will give it to the local governors based on their constitutional powers to collect and use the revenue. As indicated on the session, the federal government will prepare a legal frame work including property value rate and taxation principals, percentage of the property tax rate, as well as properties that should be free from property tax.
As shown, the Ministry of Finance is drafting the proclamation ratified as No 1/2023 with 4 votes against and 5 abstentions.
Revenue city administrations and regions and government authorities underlined that generating is not enough to improve living standard of its population.
As stated on the session, increasing of property values in cities has an impact on infrastructure of both federal and regional government owned property. Hence income from property tax is said to support both the federal and regional governments to minimize burden of costs related to infrastructure building.
The resolution proposed various opinions and questions from Members of the Parliament to decide whether the federal government or city administration under the regional state authorization property tax should be collected. The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Planning, Budget and Finance Affairs of the House of Peoples’ Representatives, Desalegn Wadaje, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Subsidy Budget and Shared Revenues of The House of Federation Honorable Shimels Abdisa and the Federal Minister of Finance Ahmed Shide gave a response and explanation on the matter.
Members of parliament(MPs) argued that the resolution will help to ensure fair use in resources in city administrations and Regional States as it will; prevent theft, expand tax options, expand the development opportunities of regions freed from subsidies, strengthen the provision of infrastructure and service providing, and help solve the challenge of unemployment in cities.
On the other hand MPs also raised an issue citing that Ethiopians were burdened with taxes and that cities should not be given the authority to tax property, but instead use their internal revenue.
Majority of the MPs said in their opinion that the resolution is appropriate and that it will allow the revenue collection system of the country to be updated and help to provide basic services to the society by expanding the infrastructure in towns.
The Speaker of The House of Peoples’ Representatives, Tagesse Chaffo, and the Speaker of The House of Federation, Agegnehu Teshager, co-chaired the same assembly, after a proposal for a resolution regarding the ownership of the property tax was prepared and presented by the Standing Committee on Planning, Budget and Finance of The House of Peoples’ Representatives and the Standing Committee on Subsidy Budget and Shared Revenues of The House of Federation.
